A budding little scientist

28/01/2013

Whilst out doing a spot of shopping with Mr C and the kids last week I happened to spot what looked like a children's chemistry set in a shop window. Not that uncommon a sight, but always good to see. Once in the shop I noticed that it was actually aimed at younger children that I'd expected with a recommended age of 4+. This attracted my attention and a lovely shop assistance happened to come over and ask me if I wanted to see inside the box. I am so glad she did as that was the start of my love affair with the Learning Resources Primary Science Set.

Making a volcano

What's so lovely about this set is that all the apparatus is plastic and chunky – perfect for clumsy little hands. Nothing can be broken no matter how hard they try. The kit contains two small test tubes, one large one (both with stands), screw on lids for the test tubes, a conical flask with bung, a beaker, tweezers, a magnifying glass, funnel, safety goggles and a pipette. Also included are 10 instruction cards for experiments that your children can perform and an added extra touch is that these are wipe-clean – ideal for when they get splashed.

Testing out jumping raisins

Ever since Mr C opened the box with her, Little Miss C has been fascinated by her science kit and has thoroughly enjoyed doing experiments, both with us and more free-form on her own. The experiments included on the cards are relatively simple, but enough to attract the attention of a toddler and also try to demonstrate a basic science principle to them. On her own LMC has continued things that we've done with her and also had great fun just pouring water from one vessel to an other.

Moving water with the pipette

Even if just using the apparatus to move water about it's great for LMC to get familiar with scientific equipment. I wasn't sure about how much she would learn from the experiments, but she's already learning what the outcomes of certain things should be. Since Christmas she's needed a bit more focus to our days and this kit has provided an excellent resource for doing so. We're trying to fit in an experiment a day and having great fun doing so. I'm also swatting up on Science Sparks so that I have a range of experiments planned – and so that I can keep one step ahead of her. Those Physics and Chemistry A-levels seem a long time ago and even some of my engineering degree knowledge is a bit rusty now too!

Disclaimer: We bought this Primary Science Set in a local shop and I decided to review it here as I loved it so much.

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Comments

We have that science set, Charlotte received it for Christmas.. I do really like the equipment, although my only bug-bear is I think they could have done a lot more with the experiment cards… I didn’t think they were really that inspirational and would have like to see more in both quantity and creativity,,,